Cougars versus the Spartiates

Saturday night we played the Spartiates of Amiens. It was about an hour to an hour and a half ride to get to Amiens from Cergy. It is North of us about the same distance to England as it is to Paris. Along the ride all I could think about was how lucky we are to be where we are located. Hopping on a bus ride to go into Paris for the day, doesn't seem like something the Spartiate players are privilaged with. The country side reminded me of the hill country in central Texas. Jean-Michel drove Matt, Danny, and myself. It was good because Jean-Michel had a bunch of Atlanta rap music in his car which I was thankful for. Especially before the game.

At the field, it was pretty solid turf. Solid as in I'd probably have to use a jackhammer to get through it, that's how hard it was. Might as well have painted up a parking lot and played on concrete! Before the game I walked out on the field to pray on the 50 like I always do. It was silent, no one was near the field. It was like I was a kid standing on the field all alone, kind of peaceful. As I was heading back in the coach from the Spartiates was walking out. He is an American, doing pretty much the same thing I am. Staying with football while learning a new culture. He told me I was playing well. I wished him luck and he did the same. I couldn't tell what that meant... was there anything behind that, was he trying to build my ego, or was it genuine?

The Spartiates have the best linebacker in the league. #35 kind of reminded me of Keith Brooking, except his arms are bigger. Anyways, he seems to be all over the field, in on every play. They came out in a 3-4 defense, not what I was anticipating, but no problem none the less. I'd prefer to go against 35 all game and see if I could cancel him from making plays, but you play the hand your dealt with. Anyways, the game started off pretty slow, and maintained that level of excitement throughout it's entirety.

We both had a touchdown called back for penalties in the first quarter. Penalties being something I'm used to now. I got the holding call for blocking the Nose with one hand while sticking my right hand into 35's chest, to help Will. I didn't think it was holding, my the big eye in the sky will tell. Anyways it negated Matt's beautiful fade route pass to Michel Serre. This would haunt me after the game.

On defense they drove down inside our redzone and were remarkably close to scoring. The defense with a bend don't break attitude, playing with mainly hurt/ out of position players, did well to stop them. Loic le Glas' ankle was hurt, Johan our fullback was playing Nose tackle and Left Guard a bit out of position for his body frame, Nyda our defensive lineman hurt his leg, and my knee was a bit banged up.
Later in the 2nd quarter we scored on a brillant run by Matt. I thought time was winding down and I was yelling for him to get out of bounds. However he willed himself into the endzone for our only score of the night. We missed the extra point.

The Spartiates threw up a hail mary and their reciever import a 6'6" body frame, that looked more like a strong forward in basketball jumped up and caught it on the 2 before the clock went down. The second half must have kept that Spartiates momentum because they went on to score quickly and lead 7-6. The ensuing kickoff Michel Serre returned 88 yards for a touchdown which was called back. Apparently a ghost had jumped on the field in a Cougars uniform and blocked someone in the back. Atleast that's what the ref saw...We battled well throughout the 3rd quarter.

All of a sudden on one defensive stand, there little scat back took the ball and scored by running for 67 yards to the endzone. One big play and the game changes. 13-6. This would be the final score since they missed the extra point. Looking back at it, I think we were aligned in the wrong defense. I think I could have made the play if I didn't rush upfield so hard. I'll have to consult the tape though. It's funny when you look at how one big play can change the game, just think of the last two superbowls. An amazing catch for the steelers, and a houdini-esce play for the Giants. Sometimes it doesn't matter.... (ok I'm writting this blog and a motorcycle rider just bit it riding down our street. His bike is on the ground and his shoe is like 10 yards away, nothing serious...but definitely funny. He's inspecting his bike for damage now... I think he was being a hot shot and wasn't paying attention!)

Back to the game. At the end of the 4th quarter, we drove the ball to the 22 yard line to get stopped on a 4th down failure. The Spartiates ran the ball for a first down and then kneed the ball to win the game. Afterwards the players on their team were real class acts. Nice guys, friendly...talked to you. We headed back to the locker room when all of a sudden I get selected to be the lucky contestant on a new French gameshow. The game is called, see if you can be like Lance Armstrong and get through the same French doping laboratory that tests for the Tour de France. Sweet lucky me.

Let me tell you what this consists of. Sitting an extra 2 hours outside in the cold, after being wet with sweat from the game. I was freezing. Luckily we got to talk with some of the players, and one of the imports with the Spartiates. Their Defensive End, he was a pretty cool guy from Chigago. Said he played D3 ball and was loving it. Seemed to be having the same type of appreciation for the experience. We talked for a while about Amiens, his new city, and what he was doing...etc. When one of our own players skipped me in line for the drug test. I later confronted him in a playful way and he said, I called your name. Well you could have touched me on the shoulder, or made sure to get my attention, but I guess that was TOO MUCH EFFORT! I was giving him a hard time, so I waited some more. Finally I got to go last and a French man had to administer the test.

It's like any other drug test, you just have to pee in a cup, that's all. However this guy happened to make a HUGE ordeal about everything, probably why it took so long. He read everything, not to mention it wasn't his first language he was speaking. He told me how to fill out paper work, while covering his ass as much as possible. He said you can select any bottle you want, I am not making your choice, here I have tons and tons of bottles so that I can not interfere with your choice.... OK OK i get it, just let me pee and lets go. Nope he went through everything over and over. AHHHHHhhhhhh so annoying. Luckily for me I had been waiting so long that I drank 3 Litres of Water before, so going was not a problem. (for the record, sometimes this can really slow down a process) Looking back though I realized how much GT had their procedures and paper work together. The NCAA could test an entire team in the amount of time it took for 6 players to get tested in France. C'est la vie.

Now we are 2-2 and pretty much in a must win situation against our next opponent, the Argonautes. Not the position I want to be in. One penalty less and we tie with the Spartiates, one non fumbled snap and maybe we have a chance to win against the FLash. I HATE LOSING. I hate losing more then I love winning. I hate it. It sucks. All I can think about is what stupid mistake I made and how it cost us the game potentially. Not good.